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All Rise...

Appellate Judge James A. Stewart is now afraid of sock puppets.

The Charge

"This is a cryogenic repository." "Repository—for what?"
"Everything. Everything they considered worth saving."
—Conversation between the Doctor and Harry Sullivan

Opening Statement

In an interview from his tenure on Doctor Who, Tom Baker told a reporter
he expected to be the last Doctor. That didn't turn out to be the case, of
course, but he did have the longest run in the role (seven seasons) and his face
probably comes up in your mind first if you think of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Ark in Space (Special Edition) finds Baker near the
start of his run.

Facts of the Case

Harry Sullivan (Ian Marterm, Doctor
Faustus) couldn't resist fiddling with the controls on his first trip in the
TARDIS, so the time-and-space police box has landed far into the future—on
a ship carrying the cryogenically frozen last humans. Naturally, the TARDIS crew
quickly gets into trouble: Harry and the Doctor (Tom Baker, Little Britain) are menaced by an
automatic laser, while Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen, The Sarah Jane Adventures) gets trapped in a
room without oxygen, then is cryogenically frozen herself. Soon, two of the
ark's leaders wake up—and aren't happy to find the Doctor and his
companions aboard. They're less happy to find the Wirrn, larvae who see those
sleeping survivors as tasty baby food.

The Evidence

As usual, the Doctor lands in an apparently empty space vessel with low
oxygen—and decides to take a look around instead of bolting back into the
TARDIS. I noticed that the William Hartnell episodes that I've seen recently
("The Reign of Terror" and "The Aztecs") separate the Doctor and his companions
from the TARDIS so they'll have to get involved in the situation, but by
Tom Baker's tenure, the Doctor's just going to go wandering, maybe fiddle at
some controls like he yelled at Harry for doing. When it looks dangerous, he
wants to investigate further. His companions protest a little, but they
generally want to keep looking themselves.

As Sarah Jane, Elisabeth Sladen manages to sound resourceful (even coming up
with a solution to the episode's crisis) and innocent at the same time (falling
for one of the Doctor's tricks when she's about to give up). Ian Marter's Harry
Sullivan comes across like Bertie Wooster, charming on the surface but annoying
and mostly useless.

Tom Baker's bulging eyes manage to say a lot, as when the Doctor realizes
that Harry has pressed another button and they grow wide with both concern and
irritation. When facing a monster or a dangerous situation, Baker sounds
enthusiastic, relishing the challenge. Somehow Baker makes that come across as
reassuring rather than batty.

The idea of the ark in space may be intriguing, but what I found myself
watching during the episode was Kenton Moore's performance as Noah, the ark
leader who slowly turns into a Wirrn. It looks like he's arguing with a sock
puppet as the Wirrn starts to take him over, but Moore is convincing enough with
his mental anguish and conflict to steal the show from Baker. There's also a
good smaller turn as one of the ark crew complains about being awakened to face
the threat, wishing he'd stayed on Earth to die, but ends up saving the day.

The BBC's DVD releases of Doctor
Who present the serials in the most pristine form possible—so you'll
quickly notice that the space ark looks like an inner tube against a backdrop of
space, and guess that the monsters are bubble wrap (which the commentary will
tell you is right on the money). The interior sets, although minimal, make the
ark feel larger than it actually is, a bit like the TARDIS, perhaps.

Tom Baker's along for the commentary with Elisabeth Sladen and producer
Philip Hinchcliffe. Fans will note that Baker refers to himself as "a Doctor
Who," not "the Doctor." He also recalls that being recognized as the Doctor was
more fun than being recognized as Callan, a tough guy, was for friend Edward
Woodward. Sladen recalls the musical score she heard on the Quebec dub of this
serial.

Pop-up notes go into the history of the word "cryogenic" and look at the
influences on The Ark in Space, including The Quatermass
Experiment and Horror Express
(which starred Peter Cushing, the movies' Doctor Who). A Dr. Forever
(their spelling) feature looks at the original Doctor Who books that were
printed between the two series; authors included former showrunner Russell T.
Davies and Mark Gatiss, both of whom are interviewed.

Filling out the extras are a making-of, an interview with serial designer
Roger Murray-Leach, model effects roll, CGI effects roll (an improved look,
which you can insert into the story as you watch), 3-D technical schematics, a
trailer for the serial, alternative title sequence, a TARDIS cam CGI, a photo
gallery, news footage of Tom Baker touring Northern Ireland, 8MM film from the
set of "Robot" (Tom Baker's first adventure), and a TV movie edit of The Ark
in Space.

There's an Easter Egg on the first menu screen, which shows a director's
title card. There's also a brief, inexplicable snippet of Tom Baker at the very
end of the serial, after the last closing credits.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Many of the extras, such as getting to watch a slightly shorter version of
the story, aren't really that special. There's certainly no reason to double-dip
if you already have this one.

Closing Statement

I liked the serial, but I was surprised to find early on that Tom Baker could
let a guest actor steal the show. I was also a little disappointed with the
extras on Doctor Who: The Ark in Space (Special Edition). Fans of classic
Doctor Who will likely enjoy it, but
it's not irresistible.

The Verdict

Not guilty.

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